If U.S. Sen. Mark Warner wants to be governor of Virginia again in 2013, he would begin the
campaign as the overwhelming favorite, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released
today. If Warner does not want another four years in the Executive Mansion in Richmond, Terry
McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee Chair, and Republicans Bill Bolling, the
lieutenant governor, and Ken Cuccinelli, the state attorney general, start off basically even.

Warner, who says he will decide whether to run for governor or remain in the U.S. Senate
by Thanksgiving, tops Lt. Gov. Bolling 53 - 33 percent and beats Attorney General Cuccinelli
52 - 34 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University survey finds.

If McAuliffe is the Democratic candidate, he would get 38 percent to 36 percent for
Bolling, and 41 percent to 37 percent for Cuccinelli.

"If Sen. Mark Warner decides to run, he begins the campaign as the prohibitive favorite,"
said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "He is
much better known and much better liked than either of the Republican aspirants and his job
approval rating - 60 percent - is the highest of any statewide elected official.

"Terry McAuliffe is another story, however. He is not well known and his rating among
those who have an opinion of him it is not all that impressive. Bolling also is not well known,
although he is slightly better liked at this point than is McAuliffe. Cuccinelli is somewhat better
known than Bolling and McAuliffe. At this point McAuliffe is benefitting from his Democratic
identification, which reflects the party's positive image in the state after President Barack
Obama's victory and the president's 52 percent job approval."

"Virginia voters say 35 - 18 percent that they would prefer Warner stay in the U.S.
Senate, rather than run for governor. Another 30 percent, mostly Republicans, want him to do
neither," Brown added.

Asked whether they have a positive or negative view of the potential candidates for
governor, Warner gets a 58 - 20 percent favorable verdict:

McAuliffe gets a 17 - 13 percent favorability with 68 percent who don't know enough
about him to form an opinion;

Cuccinelli is at 29 - 24 percent, with 45 percent who don't know enough about him;

Among Republicans, Cuccinelli has a 59 - 5 percent favorability rating, while Bolling is
at 44 - 2 percent favorable.

Virginia registered voters say 58 - 39 percent they are optimistic about the next four
years with Obama as president. By the end of the president's second term, they expect 51 - 31
percent that the economy will be better than it is now.

Voters say 58 - 37 percent that Obama and congressional Democrats are more likely to
make a "good faith" effort to work with congressional Republicans on issues important to voters.
They split 46 - 47 percent on whether congressional Republicans will make a "good faith" effort.

From November 8 - 12, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,469 registered voters with a
margin of error of +/- 2.6 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia
and the nation as a public service and for research.
For more data or RSS feed- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or
follow us on Twitter.

1. If the election for Governor were being held today, and the candidates were Terry McAuliffe the Democrat and Bill Bolling the Republican, for whom would you vote?